Download (PDF 688 KB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/30811.pdf
Abstract
Modern literature and Hollywood proved decades ahead of science in imagining the information that could be obtained from single hairs or feces. Indeed, from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) to the cult movie GATTACA (Columbia Pictures Corporation 1997), writers and producers foreshadowed the scientific value of noninvasive samples. In the 1990s, with the advance of both molecular genetics and endocrine biology, forensic scientists developed tools to determine the identity, sex, health, and social status of humans from samples left at crime scenes (e.g., hair, scat, urine, saliva). As with many technological advances in human biology, these developments soon transferred to other disciplines-including wildlife biology.
Citation
Schwartz, Michael K.; Monfort, Steven L. 2008. Chapter 9: Genetic and endocrine tools for carnivore surveys. In: Long, Robert; MacKay, Paula; Ray, Justina; Zielinski, William, editors. Noninvasive survey methods for North American carnivores. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. p. 228-250.
